Until I attended Pastors of Excellence at The Sandburg Leadership (ATS), I had not heard about the "Psalms of Lament." I know, I live a time when we have nothing to lament, HA! Let's get real. "Our English word lament comes from the Latin word for weeping. Psalms 6, 13, 22, 35, 43, 88, 102, 109, and 137 are examples of this type of psalm. You'll know you've come across one when you feel like you've turned the corner in a hallway and bumped into someone kicking, punching and screaming at a locker door; the psalms of lament are that intense.
When you find a psalm of lament that expresses what you're feeling, take that psalm and read it out loud to God. Pray that psalm. Read it with as much force and anger and depth as you can muster. A mentor of mine told me that when I'm unable to pray, I should let someone else pray for me - let the psalms become your prayers." Second Guessing God - hanging on when you can't see his plan by Brian Jones.
I don't know about you, but I've had a great deal of pain and wounding in my 65 years of life. I received a lot of what I didn't need and very little of what I really needed most. Things I should have received were withheld, whether it was on purpose or the fact they didn't know how to give me what I needed I can't tell. Perhaps you where blessed with wonderful people around you who made sure you were given all the love and affection you needed and wanted, sorry I wasn't one of those. I too ". . . was wounded in the house of my friends." (Zech. 13:6)
I didn't understand that it was and is alright to cry out to God and yes, perhaps at God for how I've been treated. According to much of the material I've read, there are three parts of a lament: accusations against god, hatred toward enemies, and vows of praise. I've notice of late that very few in any of the preaching and teaching I've heard or read deals with any of this, if at ALL!
Perhaps you think I've fallen of the wagon, or read one too many books, but I'm convinced there is an unknown (or unspoken) truth here that needs to exposed. First let me be clear, I believe God love me, and that without question! I am His son for whom Jesus bled and died for, and nothing and no one can pluck me out of His hand. I'm SAVED, not by what I do, or don't do, I'm SAVED, because of Christ's death on Calvary. If that's too preachy for you, you're reading the wrong blog.
"Accusations against God. The first thing we notice when we read the paslms of lament is that those praying felt free to accuse God of not caring about them. There accusations are, at times brutal. Consider Ps. 44:24
. . . The author essentially tells God to wipe the sleep from his eyes and quit being lazy! How could these psalms writers talk this way? I think the reason they were so bold is because they were being honest. They wrote what they felt." When was the last time I was willing to be brutally frank with God about how I'm feeling, or was I just being polite? You know what I mean, When addressing the Almighty one should be on there best behavior. Sorry, I'm past that now, He knows me, He knows my thoughts, (before they are connected to me,) I'm a fool is I think I can hide my real and true feeling from Him. Yes, yell, screm, get honest with Him, He is God and he's heard it all before, i won't be his first child that has said, "right now I'm not happy with you God!"
"What has so completely broken your soul that you wonder if you'll ever be able to recover? Tell that to God. Dispense with the polite, positive self-talk and ask God directly, Where were you when this happened? Were you sleeping? Are you lazy? Are you too chicken and you're hiding? Take the psalms of lament as your permission slip to be honest with God.
Hatred toward enemies.
Oh, yeah, how about that"love your enemy stuff? Have you read any of the Psalms? Ps. 3:7; 55:15; 143:12; 137:8, 9, don't sound like "love your enemies . . . that Jesus talked about in Matt. 5:44. "Maybe the reason the psalms of lament portray people praying for the destruction of their enemies because we can't love our enemies until God gives us the ability to love them. And maybe God can't give us the ability to love our enemies until we expressed to him, in specific detail, the full brunt of our rage and hatred for our enemies. Maybe it's not until we've pulled the every last ounce of hatred out of our hearts and flug it into the lap of God that we can authentically love our enemies."
Vows of praise.
"Interspersed among the kicking, screaming, and pleading is something biblical scholars call "a vow of praise." We see a perfect example of this in Psalms 43:1, which begins with a desperate petition, . . . but ends in v.5 . . . "
"The contrast is so stark, you wonder if the same person is writing the first and the last verses. How can someone go from such desperate circumstances to a position of confidence in God's goodness?
A vow. In just about every psalm of lament, you'll find a statement that expresses, "No matter how dark my circumstances get, no matter how much rage I feel toward God or those around me , not matter how much everything I think and feel tells me to give up on God, I will not. I will not give up on God." Have you ever made a vow like that?"
Here's a prayer from Brian Jones:
Yes, Father, I still believe in your goodness, despite What I see with my eyes:
Yes, Father, I still believe you have a plan for my life, despite what I feel in my heart;
Yes, Father, I still believe my best days are ahead of me, despite what my enemies and friends and loved ones say to me;
Even if you ask me to live in mystery the rest of my life, I will wake up every day and say yes, Father, I sill believe in you.
Second Guessing God - hanging on when you can't see his plan by Brian Jones. Chapter 8 Mystery
Buy this Book! Read this book!
Love ya,
T.A.B.
No comments:
Post a Comment